


The Unexpected

by ParkerNite



Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:00:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 19,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29429931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParkerNite/pseuds/ParkerNite
Summary: "Don't you have somewhere else you can complain at?""Not until four tomorrow."There are two sides to every story. And yet, the story never seems to be correct. The story of Peter Parker is one that has been told many times with many parts left out. Mainly, a certain person left out.Parker Nite went from living in a small part of Albany to having to adjust to city life after an unexpected visitor makes their presents in her home. Dragging her best friend and cousin, Carter, along for the ride made things feel somewhat normal. Until one accident makes her come face to face with the city's vigilante, Spiderman, pulling her into something she didn't think she'd be doing as a high school sophomore. As the duo worked side by side to try to stope the man with the wings, they learn that one thing is for sure: these two kids have one job.





	1. Chapter 1

I landed on the top of my town house and sat down. My mask disappeared and I wiped the sweat from my face. I saved over 100 people from a burning building and I was exhausted. I crawled into my window and changed out of my suit, wiping away the dirt on my face. You see, I have the ability to control fire. For example, my body can be covered in flames and that allows me to be able to fly, burn things to ash with my mind (which I don't use often because it takes a lot of energy that I don't have), and I can teleport when I get my body temperature super high. I walked downstairs to see someone sitting on my couch. "Who are you?" The person stood up and turned around. "I'm Tony Stark. You're Parker Nite, correct?" I crossed my arms. "Who wants to know?" He laughed. "I do. You see, I need your help." I smirked. "You, Tony Stark, the genius playboy, need a childs help. What could you have possibly done to get so desperate?"

"The Winter Soldier blew up the United Nations building and Steve Rogers helped him escape. I need your help catching them. With your help-" I cut him off. "You want me to catch a super soldier? And two of them?" He nodded. "You're insane. That's what your team is for." An annoyed look crossed his face and he walked towards me. "At least I don't smell like ashes." I looked up at him confused. "What does that have to do with anything?" He smirked. "Oh, it doesn't." He walked towards the kitchen and I followed him confused. "I told you I wasn't going to help you. Why are you still here?" Stark turned around and leaned against the counter. "Well I was going to tell you after you helped me, but seeing as you won't, I might as well tell you now." I nodded so he could continue. "I saw you and your cousin's test scores. I must say, I'm impressed. You both got 100s for science and math. Which is hard for anyone, even Bruce Banner. But you two are in advance classes, which should honestly be even harder."

"Ok. I already know that." He rolled his eyes. "You never let me finish. I want you two to come to New York City, Queens to be exact, and go to Midtown School of Science and Technology." Going to a science and tech only school? Hell yeah, that sounds amazing. But changing schools again doesn't sound super fun, especially half way during the school year. And then I'd have to talk to cousin Carter and her parents about it. That's a whole thing I don't they'd be ok with. "That does sound awesome, but you're going to have to give me time to think about it." He smirked again. "I already talked to Carter and she is with your aunt and uncle looking at apartments in Queens as we speak." So that's where they went. "So my aunt and uncle are ok with this?" He nodded and I sighed. "Alright, fine. Looks like I'm going to Midtown."


	2. Chapter 2

Two months later

When I opened the door to the apartment Carter picked out, and thankfully Stark was paying for, I was almost tackled to the ground. "Woah Carter, it's not like we see each other everyday." She giggled and let go of me. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know, I know. I'm excited, ok." My aunt and uncle still live in Albany and are super happy for Carter and I. They only let us come because they trust Stark. I find that surprising because of all of the stupid shit he's done, but hey, whatever floats their boats. Carter and I thought it would be a good idea to walk around Queens while there aren't as many people, but we forgot so we're going when it's night. Probably not a good idea on our part but oh well. "I love that they put us in the same classes Parker. Now we can finally do our English home-" She stopped talking when we heard a loud noise and saw a blue light in an alley. "Parker?" I nodded, still looking towards the alley. "Yeah, Carter?" She turned towards me. "Go do your thing."

I handed her my stuff and told her to get to the apartment. I took my sweatshirt off and burned it because I had my suit on under it. I tapped behind my ear and my mask covered my face. I ran in front of the building next to the alley and peeked around the corner. I saw three men trying to cut a brick building with some large machine with a blue laser. I teleported myself behind the men and they didn't notice me. "You guys do know that the jewelry store is open, right?" One guy pointed a gun at me and another guy walked up next to him. "Look little girl, how about you just go home and not tell anyone about this. Ok?" I acted like I was thinking and the final guy finished cutting through the wall. "Last time I checked, being 5'7'' wasn't little." I shot fire at the weird wall cutting thing and it disintegrated. I burned the first guy's gun and kicked each guy backwards. They hit the brick wall and got knocked out.

I hit the jewelry store alarm that was outside the building and teleported to the apartment when I heard the police siren. I tapped behind my ear to make my mask disappear and walked into the living room to see Carter pacing. "Hey, Carter?" She turned around and relief washed across her face. "Do you want to order pizza? I'm starving." She nodded and quietly laughed. "Yeah, let's order some pizza."


	3. Chapter 3

We walked into Midtown the next day and you could tell that there were smart kids in this place. You had to dodge drones to get to your locker. Once we did get to our lockers, which were thankfully next to each other, the two boys next to us started talking about a Lego Death Star. “Dude, I would love to build the Death Star, but I have the Stark Internship after school.” I closed my locker and turned to Carter. “When did Stark start to do internships?” She shrugged and closed her locker. “I don’t know. That doesn’t seem like something- wait. Are we part of one of those?” I shook my head. “No, he would have told us if we were.” We walked into English and everyone looked at us like we were aliens. “Are two Parker and Carter?” We nodded and the teacher told us to sit in the back. We sat down and the kid we sat next to was one of the boys from our locker. “Hi, I’m Ned. I’m guessing you guys are new?” Carter nodded. “Yeah. We’re from Albany’s Academic school for Gifted Children.” Ned looked at her confused and I rolled my eyes. “What she's trying to say is, we transferred from one smart school to another.” He nodded. “I’m Parker by the way, Parker Nite. And this is my cousin Carter Day.” 

We talked to Ned, as we got partnered up for a project, and it turns out he’s a really cool dude. We made it through World History and Study Hall with Ned before he had to go to another class. So we entered math knowing no one. The teacher told us to sit in the back and to just pay attention because, and I quote, “you may not know the unit”. She went on with the lesson and it was the easiest lessons I’ve learned. The last question she asked for the day no one knew the answer, except me. I raised my hand and she called on me. “The answers 63.259.” She looked at me shocked but said I was correct. “How did you find the answer so fast?” I shrugged. “I took Calculus 3 at my old school.” One kid in the class, I think his name is Flash, turned around. “You know calculus?” I nodded and he looked impressed. I turned to Carter and she gave me fist bump. The kid in front of me turned around and I quickly recognized him, Stark Internship kid. I smiled at him and he smiled back before turning back around.

Lunch finally came and when we entered the cafeteria, Ned saw us and called us over to his table. “Hey guys, how was math?” I shrugged. “It wasn’t that bad.” Carter and I sat down at the table and Ned looked at us confused. “Why are you sitting here? I mean, there are so many tables to sit at and so many people that would probably want you to sit with them.” Carter looked at him shocked. “Ned, why would you think that?” He shrugged. “Well, everyone thinks that my friend and I are losers so I figured you guys had heard that.” I shook my head. “Ned, we’d never think that you or your friend are losers. We’re sitting with you because you’ve been the only genuinely nice and sweet person we’ve met all day. That’s why we are sitting with you.” Carter nodded in agreement and Ned smiled. “Thanks a lot guys. That means a lot.” Ned looked up and waved at someone. “Hey, Peter. This is Parker and Carter. They’re new here.” I turned around and saw Internship kid walking towards us. He waved and sat down next to Ned. Internship kid and Ned started talking about the girl hanging the homecoming banner when my phone went off. 

Carter: Peter is kinda cute

I turned to her and she giggled. I rolled my eyes and she texted me again. 

Carter: I’m just saying. No need to get mad

Parker: You just want me to get with Peter so you can get with Ned

Carter hit my arm and scolded me. “Never say that again.” I rolled my eyes. “Well, don’t imply something like that.” She rolled her eyes and we started to eat our lunch. Let’s just hope the rest of the day goes smoothly.


	4. Chapter 4

Well, for a first day of school, it wasn’t that bad. Peter, Internship kid, was in a lot of our classes in the afternoon. He’s nice but I get this weird vibe from him. It just seems like he’s hiding something. He just seems so paranoid. Anyways, Carter and Ned act like they’ve known each other for years and it’s so weird to be around. Currently I’m sitting in a library, trying to do my homework, while Carter and Ned talk. “Hey, Carter?” She turned towards me. “Do you think you can get home on your own? Because I want to go home.” She looked at the clock and her eyes went wide. “Oh my god, it’s really late. I’m really sorry Ned, but I gotta get home.” Thankfully Ned understood and realized he had to get to Peter’s. The three of us walked out of the library and went our separate ways. Carter and I got a little lost trying to get home but eventually got a street that looked familiar. I heard Carter’s stomach growl and she sighed. “Parker, can we find somewhere to eat?” I nodded and we started to look around. “Well, we could go to Delmar’s?” 

I nodded and we went in. We ordered two sandwiches and sat down to eat them. “Wow, these are super good. We need to come here more.” Mr. Delmar laughed and gave us some napkins. “You two sound like one of my regulars when he first came here.” He started to walk away but turned back around. “Are you two new here? I don’t remember seeing you guys around.” I nodded. “Yeah, we just transferred to Midtown.” He nodded and went back to the counter. While eating, Carter and I did our homework. Which, let me tell you, is easier when you’re in the same classes. But it was super peaceful in that place. Besides the sound of us talking, the only things that could be heard was Mr. Delmar stocking the shelves, the cooler turning on, and Mr. Delmar’s cat purring. That was until the alarm at the atm across the street went off. “Um yes, uh, Spiderman is fighting the Avengers across the street.” Then everything went black. 

When I finally came to, I found myself in what looked like a futuristic hospital room. I was hooked up to all of these weird machines and it was super weird. I sat up slowly and groaned. “Where am I?” The door opened and in came the man that’s supposed to be making sure my cousin and I are safe, Happy Hogan. “You’re in the hospital wing at Avengers tower.” I nodded and everything that had happened came back. 

“Parker, look.” Carter pointed towards the atm and there it was, Spiderman fighting the Avengers. “The one day I don’t wear my suit to school.” Carter turned to look at me with wide eyes. Before she could say anything, a blast hit the building. We fell to the ground and the ceiling started to fall. I rolled out of the way and barely missed getting hit by it. I heard a scream and immediately realized it was Carter. “Carter! Where are you?” I sat up and waited for a response. “I’m- I’m over here!” I scrambled up and ran towards her. When I got there, I noticed a piece of the ceiling was on her. “Hold on, Carter.” I placed my hands on the piece and burned it. She gasped and got up. The place caught on fire and it was spreading quickly. “Carter, we need to get out of here!” She nodded and started to run out of the place with me following behind. 

I saw some fire coming towards Carter and I pushed her forward. “Run Carter, run!” She sped up and the fire hit me instead of her. I got thrown against the wall and hit my head on the ground when I fell. I was only able to stay conscious long enough to see Carter, Mr. Delmar and his cat get out of the building safely before I passed out.


	5. Chapter 5

“Carter! Where is she?” I tried to get out of the bed but Happy pushed me back. “You can’t go after her, kid. You came out worse than her.” I pushed him away and started to remove the needles. “I need to make sure she’s ok. She’s all the family I got here.” I teleported behind him and ran out of the room into the hallway. I ran down the hallway and saw Carter sitting in a chair. She looked up in my direction and relief washed over her face. “Oh my god, you’re not dead!” She got up and hugged me gently. “What happened to you? I turned around and you weren’t there.” I sighed. “I got hit with a blast. It was coming for you but I got in the way and it hit me instead.” I pulled away from her. “How did I end up here?” Carter motioned for me to sit down next to her. “When I realized you weren’t there, Spiderman just got Mr. Delmar out. So I told him you were still in there and he ran back to find you. I also called Happy a million times but he never picked up. So I called Tony and told him what happened. When I was done talking to him, Spiderman came out with you in his arms. Then Spiderman started freaking out because you wouldn’t wake up. I found the whole interaction with Spiderman cute. But, then Happy showed up and Spiderman left.”

I nodded, trying to take everything in. Spiderman was freaking out? I’ve never even met him before. “Kid, you got to get back in your room.” I looked up to see Happy jogging down the hallway. “I will when you tell me what happened when I got here.” He sighed and sat down next to me. “When you got hit, your body took in the flames. Your body’s temperature increased so much that the doctors need to wear fireproof clothes so they wouldn’t get hurt. Your body couldn’t handle the temperature and the fire intake so you started to shoot fire out into the room. It took you awhile to stop and when you did, they were able to cool you down. You thankfully didn’t need surgery but they need you to stay here so they can make sure you don’t do that again.” I nodded and the three of us went to the room. Some nurses came in and hooked me back up to all of the machines. I looked at the clock and saw there was only two hours before school started. “Carter.” She turned to me. “You need to go home and get ready for school. There’s only two hours before it starts and you’re covered in dirt.” She groaned. “But Parker-” I interrupted her. “Carter, go to school. The doctor said you’re fine and I’ll be fine here. Now go.” She gave up and left. I sighed and closed my eyes to take a nap. 

When I woke up, I saw my backpack sitting on the chair next to me. The door opened and Happy came in with one of the nurses. “Guess what kid, they said you can go home.” The nurse nodded and removed the needles. “Yes, but you must be careful. Your body is still recovering from the taking in that amount of fire. And I would try to not use your powers for the rest of the day. Ok?” I nodded and Happy took me home. By the time I got home, I knew Carter would be coming home soon. I got cleaned up, ate something and opened my bedroom window. I climbed out onto the fire escape and sat down, leaning against the building and closed my eyes. It was peaceful. Cars honking, the birds chirping and the old lady next door’s cat meowing. That was until a bang came from next to me. I opened my eyes and looked at what was next to me. “Hey, Spiderman.”


	6. Chapter 6

“Um, hi. Uh- how are you?” He was leaning against the rail of the fire escape and the eyes on the suit kept moving, like he was trying to read me. I laughed quietly and moved to sit criss-cross. “I’m ok now. Thanks for getting me out of there.” He looked down and rubbed the back of his neck. “It’s, uh, no problem. Just doing my job.” He moved away from the railing and sat down next to me. The two of us just sat there, enjoying the sounds of the city. “Aren’t you supposed to be off saving the city or something?” After a few moments with no response, I turned my head to see him just looking at me. I waved my hand in front of his face and he chuckled. “You’re not from around here, are you?” I glared at him. “Hey mister, you don’t get to ask a question without answering mine.” He laughed and raised his hands in surrender. “Well, uh, I just uh, it’s been a slow crime day.” I giggled and looked out at the city. “Isn’t that a good thing?” He turned towards me. “I mean yeah but- hey! I shouldn’t have to answer that because you didn’t answer mine.” I put my hands up in surrender. “Ok, ok, ok. Yes, I’m not from here. My cousin and I transferred schools.” He nodded. “Are your parents cool with you sitting on your fire escape after what happened last night?” I froze. I completely forgot to tell my aunt and uncle what happened. Not that they’d be extremely worried about me. They know I’ll be fine, especially since they think Stark is watching over me. 

“My, uh, my parents died when I was 5. So I’ve been living with my aunt and uncle since. And no, I haven’t told them yet.” I looked down at my lap and started to play with my hands. “Oh, I’m sorry. That’s terrible.” I was about to tell him it was alright when he jumped up. “Hey, I gotta go. It was nice talking to you but I really have to go.” I stood up. “It’s ok. Go do your job.” He jumped off the fire escape and left. I climbed back inside and saw Carter standing in my doorway smirking. “Getting cozy with Spiderman, huh?” I pushed past her and walked into the kitchen. “Oh shut it, Carter.” She laughed and followed me. “Did you tell him through? That you’re a superhero too?” I turned around to look at her. “1) Why would I tell him that? I don’t even know the dude. And 2) I’m not a superhero.” Carter placed her phone on the counter and crossed her arms. “Oh yeah, because having a suit that protects you, a mask to hide who you are, and a cool name like Flames doesn’t make you a superhero. And, you know, it’s not like you used to sneak out of the house at night to save people or anything.” I rolled my eyes. “Fine, I’m a superhero. But no one knows who Flames is so it doesn’t matter. Anyways, how was school?” 

“It was super boring. It’s really hard being the only smart one. Ned was worried about you though. Apparently the news broadcasted who was hurt so people kept asking if you were ok. I told Ned and Peter what happened, besides you using your powers, and Peter kept asking if you woke up and if you were ok. It was kinda like how Spiderman was freaking out when you didn’t wake up. But, we got invited to a party at Liz’s house. I know parties aren’t your thing but I think I’m gonna go.” I nodded. “Ok, have fun. Just call me if something goes wrong.” She nodded and went into her room to get ready. I grabbed a cup of water and went back out onto the fire escape to watch the city once more.


	7. Chapter 7

August 15, 2007

“Daddy, are we almost there?” I not so patiently asked in the back of the car. My dad and I were on the way to see my new baby brother at the hospital. “Yes, we’re almost there.” I sighed and continued to look out the window. After 10 minutes of me annoying my father and looking out of the window, we finally arrived at the hospital. “Come on dad, I wanna see the baby.” He laughed and scooped me up in his arms. “Calm down there Flames, you’ll get to see him.” After what seemed like a gazillion hallways, we finally arrived at my mama’s room. My dad set me down and I ran over to her bed. “Is that him? Is that Charlie?” She nodded and I crawled on the bed to get a better view of the baby. “Woah, he has no hair.” My parents laughed and the baby started to cry. After watching mama change his diaper, which smelled bad by the way, I was able to hold him. “Hi Charlie, I’m Parker, your amazing big sister. I’m going to watch over you and take care of you, except for the changing you part. I don’t want to do that, you smell bad.” My parents laughed and I gave them back my brother. “You know sweetie, you’re going-” My mama was cut off by the building exploding. 

I got thrown from the chair I was sitting in and I hit the door on the side of the room. I quickly got up and ran towards my mama’s bed but got cut short when a flaming beam fell in front of me. I yelped and jumped back, just missing another beam. I turned around and ran towards the door. I grabbed the door handle but quickly pulled back when it burned my hand. I looked down at my palm and saw the burn mark, making me cry some more. I looked around frantically. “Come on Parker, think! Think!” More beams fell and trapped me in my spot causing me to make what I thought, still think to this day, was the dumbest decision of my life. I grabbed the door handle again and opened it. I ran down the hallway, trying to find anyone else that survived. While I was running, a beam fell and made the floor I was standing on to break, sending me five floors down. 

When I landed, I looked and found a device that was sitting on the ground next to me. I picked it up and flipped it over to see a red octopus on the bottom. I turned it back over and got cut by one of the spikes on it. My whole arm started to burn and my veins turned black. I heard yelling above me and I looked up to see men with black outfits coming down towards me. They pulled me out of the building and handed me to the paramedics. Everything else after that was a blur. All I can remember is moving from Virginia to New York to live with my aunt, uncle and cousin. And that I was the only survivor. I lost my family. All because of Hydra. It’s all Hydra’s fault. It always is their fault.


	8. Chapter 8

I was eating potato chips and reading Carter’s notes when I got a phone call. “Parker, you gotta get over here! There was a blue explosion like ten blocks away from Liz’s house.” I sighed and got up from my spot. “I’ll check it out.” I ended the call and put on my suit. I opened my window and stepped onto the fire escape. I shut the window and jumped off, letting the fire take over and flew towards the spot. As I was flying, I saw Spiderman get taken into the air by a man with metal wings. Honestly, he looked like a human vulture. I followed the two as close as I could without being seen. I was about to shoot fire at the man but remembered what the nurse said. So I did the next best thing, I called Tony. As soon as he hung up, Spiderman’s parachute came out and he got tangled in it. He fell into the water and not long after, an Iron Man suit went in and got him. I followed them and landed on a tree just far enough to see the two but not hear them talk. The suit set Spiderman down on a park jungle gym with the masked hero’s back towards me. There was arm waving from Spiderman and crazy hand movements from the Iron Man suit. The suit started to fly towards me and I stood up on the tree limb. “Hey ashes, how are you feeling?” I shrugged. “I’m alright. Thanks for showing up.”

I pressed behind my ear and my mask disappeared. “You know you could have called Happy, right?” I rolled my eyes. “He tends to not answer when we need him.” I heard a car and I looked at the suit confused. “Are you driving?” He laughed. “Why didn’t you burn the strings on his parachute or throw fire at the bird guy?” I sat down on the limb because my hip started to hurt. “Well, the nurse at Avenger tower told me to take it easy and to try not to use my powers.” I looked behind the suit and saw Spiderman start to walk away. “You actually listened to her?” I nodded, still watching Spiderman. “Yes, I did. I usually don’t but seeing as I almost died again, I figured I should.” The suit turned around to see what I was looking at and I heard him sigh. “I need you to do me a favor, kid.” I nodded. “Watch over him. Make sure he stays out of trouble.” I looked at the suit confused. “You want me to babysit a superhero?” I could hear the smirk in his voice. “Exactly ashes, exactly. Now, I must be going. Have fun but not too much fun.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever.” The suit left and I sighed. I’m babysitting a superhero now? What did I sign up for?

I teleported back to my room and changed into my regular clothes. I heard the apartment door open and close and I walked into the living room to see Carter doing her I’m-worried-about-something pace around the living room. “Do you remember Flash?” I nodded. “Did you know that he picks on Peter?” I think everyone but Carter knows Flash picks on Peter. “I mean, it’s not surprising.” She turned around to look at me. “What do you mean?” I shrugged and sat down on the couch. “He’s an easy target. He’s nerdy, doesn’t play a sport, doesn’t have a lot of friends, doesn’t have a lot of money and he has the body of a twig. Perfect person for a popular person to hit.” She sat down next to me. “I just don’t understand why. Peter and Ned are the nicest people ever. It doesn’t make sense to me. It never has.” She looked down at her lap then back at me. “So how did the blue explosion adventure go?” I shrugged and grabbed a chip from the bag. “It was ok. I got to see Spiderman get dropped into a lake so that was fun. I called Tony and he came and got him. Now I’m babysitting Spiderman.” 

“You’re doing what now?” I shrugged. “I’m just supposed to make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid, I think.” She nodded. “Geez, Parker. What did you sign up for?” I sighed. “I have no clue, Carter. No clue.”


	9. Chapter 9

The next day at school, everyone was being all nice and asking how I was feeling and stuff. I hated it. I don’t like unnecessary attention. If I didn’t purposefully create the attention, don’t talk to me. Anyways, Carter and I were in the tech lab when I noticed Peter had some weird looking tech. He started hitting it and it made a sound that reminded me of someone getting stuck in a sander. “Hey, can you ask Peter if he has today’s math notes? I would ask you for them, but you take them.” I nodded and walked over to Peter and Ned. “Whatcha doing?” They turned around and started rambling. “Well- uh- you see. Uh- it’s just- uh-” I cut them off. “Guy’s, I’m kidding. I honestly don’t care what you’re doing. I’m just here to ask Peter if he has today's math notes. That’s all.” Ned looked relieved and Peter pulled the notes out of his bag. “Uh, here.” I took them and nodded. “Thanks.” I went back to my workstation and realized where I’d seen the tech Peter and Ned had. It was from the truck I saw last night that Spiderman got taken from. But how did the two of them get a hold of it?

After school, I climbed out onto the fire escape to think about a way to stop the vulture guy. I put my head in my hands and sighed. I heard a bang and looked over to see Spiderman once again on my fire escape. “Is this going to be an everyday thing now?” He chuckled and sat down next to me. “I just came by to see how you’re doing today.” I nodded. “I’m doing alright. I went back to school today. Everyone kept asking me if I was ok, which I found very nice because I’m still new there but dang, the school kept asking me. And that’s a lot of people. But a guy, well, actually, he might be my friend. I’m not sure. I come off as a real pain so he might not consider me as a friend, but I do. Anyways, he kept asking me if I was ok and said if I needed anything then he could get it. Which was really sweet, but he’s trying to get with this girl and it might have sent her the wrong message.” He sighed. “Did you tell him that?” I shook my head. “Well, maybe he didn’t know he was acting like that.” I looked at him confused. 

“Maybe he cares about you. Maybe he’s lost someone too. A lot of people lose family, Parker. Maybe he feels like he has to protect you.” I looked down. “Yeah, maybe.” Then I looked up at him. “How do you know my name?” He froze. “Uh, your cousin said it at Delmar’s.” He stood up. “Hey, I gotta go protect the city and stuff. Maybe we can talk again?” I nodded. “Cool. see you around Parker.” I smiled. “See you around, Spiderman.” I went back inside and sat down on my bed. I knew that voice. It’s so familiar. But where? “Hey, Carter?” Her head popped into my room. “Did you say my name near Spiderman? Like at all?” She shook her head and I sighed. I pulled my math homework out of my bag and there sat Peter Parker’s math notes for Carter. I looked them over and noticed a spider drawn on the side. And not any spider, the Spiderman logo. Then I put the two together. 

Peter Parker is Spiderman. 

I laid down on my bed and looked at the ceiling. Peter Parker is Spiderman. That’s how he knew my name and that’s how he got the tech. God, I’m so stupid. And now I have to babysit him, Extreme stupidity has been reached. “Parker! Get your suit on. Something just exploded.” I got up and put my suit on. “Where is it?” She popped her head in. “3 blocks from Midtown.” I nodded and climbed out onto the fire escape. “Be careful. I don’t want to call Happy, he never answers.” I nodded and flew off. I got to the place and saw what exploded, a whole office building. Who blows up an office building? I flew and started looking for survivors. I found ten people and got them outside to the medics. I was about to fly off when I saw Spiderman swing in and land near the ambulance. The eyes on his suit went when he saw me because I was covered in flames. I smirked and saluted at him. When I flew off, I left him there shocked and confused.


	10. Chapter 10

Today is the day we leave for the decathlon and Carter and I were standing with the rest of the team. I’m not quite sure why they need us through. Mr. Harrington said it’s just in case they magically need more smart people. I don’t really believe it but as my aunt says, it gets me out of the house. I was scrolling through Instagram when I got hit on the arm. “Ow! What do you want Carter?” She pointed at Peter running towards us. “I thought he quit. Why’s he back?” I shrugged. “Who knows Carter. Who knows.” Flash started going off on Peter for coming back when Mr. Harrington welcomed him back. I patted Flash on the back while Carter held back a laugh. “Welcome to the replacements, buddy.” He shrugged my hand off and got on the bus. Carter high-fived me and I looked over at Peter. There’s a reason he’s here, but I’m not sure what.

On the way to D.C, Liz was quizzing the main people who will be in the decathlon, leaving Carter and I bored out of our minds. I sat in a seat with my head against the window and feet across the seat reading a book while Carter sat in the seat in front of me, watching something on her phone. I felt something brush against my feet and I looked up to see Peter walking by on the phone. I shrugged and went back to reading. Not long after Peter walked back to his seat, my phone rang. I pulled it out of my bag and rolled my eyes at who it was. “What do you need Happy?” He took a deep breath. “Why are you going to D.C?” I flipped the page in my book. “School trip? Why? What’s up?” He sighed. “Just checking. Tony said to watch you guys and that’s what I’m going to do.” I nodded. “Ok, well I gotta go. Bye Happy.” He said bye and hung up. I sighed and went back to my book. Honestly, This day just keeps getting weirder each second. 

We arrived at the hospital and went into our rooms. I set my stuff down and laid on the bed. Before I could fall asleep though, Carter chucked a pillow at me. “Parker, I don’t want to spend the rest of the day in this room.” I rolled towards her. “Then go and talk to someone in another room.” She groaned and flopped down on her bed. Then she got up and flopped on top of me. “Do you want to sneak out?” Carter and I walked around the hotel then went on a little walk outside. We walked around for a little bit before heading back so we won’t get caught. By the time we got back, it was time to go to bed. Which wasn’t the case as the team was running down the hallway in their swimwear, heading to the pool. “We gotta hurry up because I wanna go with them.” I nodded. “Yeah, me too.” As we were quietly running back to our room to change, I saw Liz talking to Peter.

After she left, Peter looked up and saw Carter and I running down the hallway. He looked at us confused and I pointed at Liz then back at him. I gave him a thumbs up and his face went red with embarrassment. He recovered and rolled his eyes at me, causing me to laugh. He left and Carter pulled me into our room. I have to say, I’m impressed. I guess he did listen to me the other day and he’s now paying more attention to her than me. Good for him.


	11. Chapter 11

Today is the day of the decathlon and Peter is nowhere to be found. Flash has never been more excited but I’m more worried about Peter being MIA and everyone just seems ok with it. Does this happen a lot here? If so, that needs to be stopped. As I was heading to turn in my phone, it rang and I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved. “Parker! Where’s Ned?” I looked around. “He’s already in there, where you should be Peter!” He groaned in what I think was frustration. “I need you to have him call me as soon as it’s done.” I nodded. “Ok, but where are you? Everyone is worried about you.” Before I could hear his answer, his phone cut out and I groaned. God Peter, where are you? “Parker, turn in your phone so we can go in.” I nodded and handed the lady my phone. I followed Carter and Mr. Harrington into the room and watched the decathlon. After what felt like forever, Michelle answered the final question correctly and we won. We celebrated and now Flash carries the trophy around with him. Which I find very creepy but I guess that could just be me. 

We were waiting in line at security at the Washington Monument when I was finally able to talk to Ned. “Hey, so Peter called me back at the decathlon and he wants you to call him.” He nodded and his phone rang. “Peter? Where are you?” I walked away and joined the rest in the elevator after getting through security. “You ready to do this, Parker?” I shrugged. “Ready as I’ll ever be.” The elevator ride was alright but the tour guide was the most monotone person ever. That lady needs some excitement in her life or something. The elevator stopped and Carter grabbed my arm. “Parker, what’s happening?” I shook my head. “I don’t know Carter.” Everyone started freaking out and the tour guide kept telling us that the safety precautions were working. Which, unlike everyone else, I could tell was a total lie. People opened the escape door and the team started to climb out. “Carter, go.”

“I was going to anyways.” Carter climbed out and the elevator started to fall. “Parker!” I looked up and saw Carter get further away. Liz grabbed onto me and I grabbed onto the railing. We came to an abrupt stop and I looked up to see Spiderman. He started to pull us up and Ned started jumping around. “Ned, stop jumping!” Spiderman pulled us back to the door and Ned and Mr. Harrington got out. “Liz, we gotta go.” She shook her head. “I’ll be right behind you. You’ll be ok, I promise.” She let me go and walked towards the door with me behind her. Before we could get out, the web snapped and we fell again. Liz grabbed onto me and started to scream. I was about to use my powers to get us back up but stopped when webbing attached to us. He pulled us up and Carter pulled me into a hug. “Are you ok?” I nodded and pulled away. “Yeah, yeah. I’m fine.” I turned around and saw Spiderman looking at Liz and I. Before I could say anything, He fell down the elevator shaft.

The bus ride home was extremely quiet. I think everyone was still scared by the whole elevator thing. I rested my head on the window and closed my eyes. I must have fallen asleep because I woke up when I was shaken gently. I looked up and saw Peter standing there with his hands in his pockets. “We’re at the school now.” I nodded and he got off the bus. I woke up Carter and we got off the bus. As we started to walk away, I saw everyone with their parents and I got jealous. I can’t have the comfort of my parents anymore. I didn’t get to have one more hug with them before they died. And as much I wish I could have that hug, I can’t. And there’s nothing I can do but move on. 

Before we could leave the parking lot, Peter’s aunt ran over to us. “Are you girls alright? Peter was worried that something was wrong because you guys didn’t go to your parents.” We nodded. “Yeah, we’re ok. My parents are out of town so they can’t be here.” Her face changed from worried to sad after hearing what Carter said and she pulled us into a hug. I hugged her back and when she let us go, I looked up at Peter. He was looking at the three of us with concern until he noticed me looking at him. I motioned for him to come over while his aunt and Carter were talking. “Thank you, Peter.” He nodded. “I know what it’s like. And she gives the best hugs.” We laughed and Peter’s aunt pulled all of us into a hug. 

“I’m glad you guys are alright. I don’t know what I’d do if any of you got hurt.”


	12. Chapter 12

Everyone was back to themselves the next week at school and I was thankful. There was no more attention on me for almost dying again which was great. Liz was still a little shaken up about the whole thing but she was ok. I finally told my aunt and uncle about the explosion at Delmar’s when they called to ask if we were ok after the accident at the Washington Monument. Which, they weren’t happy that they just found out about it but they were happy I was alright and severely hurt. Currently, I’m sitting at the kitchen island doing my science project with Peter Parker. Doing this project would be 100% easier if I had Carter as my partner because Peter is constantly paranoid, but she got partnered with Ned. Every so often, I would see Peter look out the window or at the clock. I looked at his paper and saw that he had nothing written on it. How can this boy be so smart yet so unproductive.

After 20 minutes of Peter being paranoid, I decided to take things into my own hands. “Calm down, Peter. I think crime can wait long enough to let us get at least an A on this project.” He turned and looked at me shocked. I laughed quietly and went back to work. “How- what- huh?” I smirked. “You seriously didn’t think I’d realize that you’re Spiderman? Even after the times you came by and talked to me? And the accident at the Washington Monument? I’m honestly surprised Carter, or anyone really, hasn’t found out yet because it’s so obvious.” Peter continued to look at me confused and shocked. “Don’t worry Peter, I know how to keep a secret.” I held up my hand and let it catch on fire. His eyes went wide as he looked at my hand. “So, you’re the fire girl?” I nodded and the flames disappeared. I closed my textbook and clasped my hands together. “Now, how are we going to stop this vulture guy?”

He closed his textbook and pushed it aside. “Well, the vulture guy is the man producing the weapons. So you catch him in the act, you stop him from selling them. Which shouldn’t be that hard, you just gotta find him. But, I have no clue where he is.” I nodded. “Ok, I’ll help you. If we stop this guy, our jobs won’t be that hard.” He shook his head. “No. No, no, no. I’m not letting you get involved. Something could go wrong and-” I cut him off. “I’ve survived a hospital explosion and the thing at Delmar’s. I think I’ll be fine with a dude with wings.” He sighed and looked away to, what looked like, think about the idea of me helping him. After a few minutes, he looked back at me. “Fine, we’ll catch him together. But if something goes wrong, you get out.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure. Fine. Deal?” He nodded and shook my hand. “Deal.” I smiled and closed my notebook. “Why do I feel like I’m going to regret this?” I shook my head. “It’s only because we’re two kids with one job. You’ve gotta embrace the unexpected!”

He laughed and started to tell me what he knows, which wasn’t a lot by the way. “I hope we draw the attention of the FBI by doing this.” He stopped pointing at my computer screen and looked at me shocked. “Are you insane?” I shrugged. “I’ve never seen anyone kick a door in before. It looks exciting!” He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I think I’m starting to regret agreeing to this.”


	13. Chapter 13

The next day, we decided to come up with our plan. Well, that was the plan until Peter got sent to detention. Until then, that plan was paused. I walked out of the bathroom and went around the corner to get back to class, only to walk into someone. “Hey dude, watch where you’re- oh! Peter! How did you get out of detention?” He shrugged. “I just walked out.” I laughed. “Now come on, we gotta go.” I nodded and followed him out of the school. “Where’s your apartment building?” He turned to me confused. “What?” I rolled my eyes. “Where’s your apartment building?” He hesitantly told me where it was and I grabbed his arm. “Hold on.” I teleported outside the building and Peter turned to me with wide eyes. “Woah, that’s cool.” I shrugged and followed him into the building. We walked into his apartment and I sat down on his bed while he sat down in his desk chair. “So, how do we find out where this guy is?” He spun around in his chair and I shrugged. “I don’t know. Does your suit have a recording feature in it?” He stopped spinning. “I don’t know.”

“Well, ask the suit.” He looked at me confused. “What? What do you mean ask the suit?” I rolled my eyes. “It’s a suit made by Stark, yes?” He nodded. “Then it has to have some sort of A.I in it.” He continued to look at me confused. “Just ask the suit.” He grabbed his mask and started talking to Karen, who is the A.I in his suit, to get some information. Karen told us the name of the guy from the explosion near Liz’s house, Aaron Davis, and Peter grabbed his suit. “I’ll go talk to him and I’ll call you to tell you the next move.” He started to change into his suit and I turned around. “You sure?” I heard the window open and I turned back around. “Definitely.” He jumped out of the window, leaving me in his room. After spinning in his desk chair for 20 minutes, I got a phone call. “Meet me at the ferry. He’s gonna be there.” I hung up and put on my suit. I tapped behind my ear and teleported to the ferrie. I landed next to Peter and crouched next to him. “So what’s the move?” He looked at me. “It’s simple, we stop him.” I smirked and we jumped down from our spots. My job was to distract the guy called The Shocker while Peter’s job was to catch the vulture guy. 

The Shocker kept shooting at me which I blocked by throwing fire at them. There were constant shots being thrown by the two of us until he shot a laser at me and I moved out of the way, causing the ferry to get cut in half. “You've got to be kidding me!” Peter started webbing the ferry together and I flew around to make sure no one fell into the water. The webs started to snap and the ferry started sinking. “It’s not working! The webs are breaking!” Peter added more and more webs to try to bring the ferrie back together but nothing was working. “What are we gonna do?” Peter shook his head and I grabbed a kid that almost fell off the side of the ferry. “You gotta be careful, ok?” The kid nodded and ran back to his mom. “Flames, look!” I looked towards where Peter was pointing and I clenched my jaw. “Shit!” Iron Man flew towards us and Peter swung towards me. “You need to get out of here, Parker.” I shook my head. “I’m not leaving. I can take whatever Stark will do.”

Peter ran his hand over his mask. “You told me if something went wrong you’d leave.” I went to argue but Peter raised his hand to stop me. “Parker please, go home. I can’t- I can’t let you stay here. I can’t do that to you.” I lowered my head and nodded. “But when this is over, let me know you’re ok.” He nodded and I teleported to his room to grab my bag. I heard his apartment door open and I quickly teleported back to my room. I threw my bag on my bed and went into the living room to turn on the tv. I turned on the news and the accident was all they were talking about. “Spiderman, Flames and Iron Man save a ferry that was cut in half.” I stopped listening to the reporter and ran my hand over my face. I was joking yesterday when I wanted the FBI to show up and they actually did. We are so screwed.


	14. Chapter 14

I changed into my normal clothes and paced the living room waiting to hear something from Peter. I tried to find something to do to distract me but nothing was helping. I don’t know why I was so worried about him but I was. Maybe it was because I was supposed to make sure he didn’t do something stupid and instead I helped him. Or maybe it was because I just abandoned him there and didn’t stay with him instead. Whatever it was, it left when I got a text from Peter. 

Peter: I got home fine but there’s something I need to tell you. Can you come over?

Parker: On my way

I teleported to his room and noticed he was wearing Hello Kitty pajama pants and a baggy I Survived My Trip to NYC shirt. He looked at me with tears in his eyes and I got worried. “Peter-” He cut me off. “I lost it.” He sat down on his bed and I crouched in front of him. “Lost what, Peter?” He ran his hand through his hair. “My suit. Mr. Stark took it. He thought I was being reckless and stupid.” I clenched my jaw and shook my head. “I knew I should’ve stayed with you.” Peter rapidly shook his head. “No. No, no, no. he would’ve yelled at you too. I wasn’t going to let that happen. I told you I wasn’t going to let something happen to you. And I was serious about it and I still am.”

“You don’t have to worry about me, Peter. I’m fine. I’ve always been fine and I’ll be fine.” Peter put his head in his hands and sighed. “So, what are we gonna do now, Peter?” He shrugged. “I don’t know. I lost my suit. I can’t stop him. I’m useless now.” I stood up and sat next to him. “So this is the end, huh? We’re just going to let him go?” He sighed and nodded. “I don’t want you to go after him on your own so yeah, this is it.” I patted his shoulder. “Just so you know Peter, you’re always going to be Spiderman. No matter what. Suit or no suit. Powers or not. You are the one who decided to help people. You make the hero, your suit doesn’t.” He nodded and I stood up. “If you need me, just text me. Or come over.” He nodded again and I teleported home. The front door opened and Carter walked towards me. And if looks could kill, I’d be dead. Trust me. “Where the hell did you go? Since when did you skip school? Why did a ferry get cut in half?” I rolled my eyes. “Calm down Mom. I’m fine. Thanks for asking.” Carter scoffed. “Don’t start, Parker! Don’t start with the Mom thing. I thought we moved past that.” Carter ran her hand through her hair, waiting for my response. “I thought so too, Carter. I thought I remembered the deal being that I would stop calling you mom if you would stop being so damn overprotective! I should be the one being so overprotective of you! Not the other way around!”

“Fine! I’ll stop if you stop. Deal?” I nodded and unclenched my jaw. “Deal. No more Mom and no more over protectiveness.” She nodded and her face softened. “But seriously Parker, what happened? Why did that ferry get cut in half?” I sighed, trying to figure out what I can tell her. “I’ve been helping Spiderman. He asked for Flames’ help to catch the guy that caused the blue light by Liz’s house. Instead of hitting us with the laser, he hit the ferry and cut it in half.” Her mouth opened slightly and she nodded. I went into my room and laid down on my bed. Peter and I just can’t just let this vulture guy keep doing this stuff. But how can we stop him now? Stark made Peter feel like he was a waste of space. My phone rang and I rolled my eyes at who it was, Tony Stark. I threw my phone across the room not really caring if it broke or not. I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him after what he said to Peter but, apparently, the universe had other plans. “Parker, what did you-” I got up and hung up the phone only for him to call again. “I’m sorry I hung up on you, I didn’t mean to answer the call.”

I didn’t hear what his response was because I hung up the phone again. I left it on the floor and laid back down on my bed. “When this is all over, I want my sanity back.” I rolled over and closed my eyes, hearing my phone ring again before I fell asleep.


	15. Chapter 15

Day 1 of no Spiderman

Since Peter isn’t busy anymore, Carter and Ned thought it would be a good idea to have a movie night at our place. So we’re watching Star Wars, one of my favorites. “Dude, it’s not like there were any other women in the galaxy. All he had was Leia.” Ned glared at me. “There had to be other women.” I laughed and shook my head. “I’m on Parker’s side with this one, Ned. She has a point.” I high-fived Peter and Ned threw popcorn at us. “Whatever. This was stupid conversation anyways.” We laughed and continued to watch the movie. A few hours later, Ned had to leave and Carter went to bed, leaving Peter and I by ourselves on my fire escape to watch the city. “Is it weird?” He looked at me confused. “Acting like it never happened. Having to pretend that this life changing event was just a dream.” He nodded. “Yeah, it is. My powers changed who I am. They’re such a big part of me and now I have to act like a normal teen again.” I chuckled. “Don’t worry, you haven’t missed much.” We both laughed and continued to watch the city. 

Day 3 of no Spiderman

Peter and I were sitting on my fire escape when Carter came running into my room. “Parker, there’s a fire downtown. The fire department can’t get the fire to calm down enough to get the people out- oh, hi Peter. Wait, Peter?” Her eyes went wide and looked at me worried. “Don’t worry, he knows.” Peter waved and I walked into my room. “I’ll be right back.” I took my suit from Carter and changed in my bathroom, because, well, you know, Peter was there. I walked out onto the fire escape and pressed behind my ear, making my mask appear. “Parker,” I turned to face him, “be careful.” Carter walked out onto the fire escape and nodded in agreement. “Yeah, what he said.” I laughed and nodded. I flew to the building and got the people out. I’m not sure what it is with Queens and burning office buildings. I wonder if people just hate office buildings. I helped calm down the fire and teleported back to my room to hear Peter and Carter arguing. “But, come one, Thor is a superior superhero.” I laughed and changed back into my normal clothes. “Carter, what about the Hulk?” I walked into the living room to find Carter looking at Peter with a glare. “Carter, you only like Thor because you think he’s hot.”

“Oooo, you’ve been exposed. Glad to see someone’s on my side.” I sat down next to Carter and grabbed the tv remote. “So, what do you wanna watch?” Peter shrugged and Carter repeatedly hit my arm, like she was saying something and I would understand it. Which, thankfully for her, I did know what she was trying to say. “Hey, Peter?” He nodded. “Have you seen the movie Aliens?” He shook his head. “No.” Carter gasped and I laughed. “Well, you should. You’d love it. Which is why we’re going to watch it now.” Let’s just say, Peter loved it and was referencing it for a while. 

Day 5 of no Spiderman

I held my books close to my chest and sprinted down the hall. I looked everywhere for him but I couldn’t find him. Then I remembered one place I haven’t checked. I stopped running a few feet from my destination and there he was. I quietly walked up behind him and gave him an evil smile. “Peter!” He jumped and turned around. “Geez Parker, could you be any louder?” I rolled my eyes. “Haha, very funny. But look at this.” I handed him our group paper. “We blew up a ferry and got an A+. I call that a success.” He laughed. “Oh yes, because almost killing a boat full of people is a success.” I laughed and started to walk towards the exit. “I never said which part was the successful one.” 

“You still coming over?” I nodded. “Yes, I’m teaching you calculus. Of course I’m still coming over.” He looked at me amused. “You are the only person I know who gets excited about calculus.” I shrugged. “Oh, Carter does too. She’s actually way worse than me. You mention calculus to her and it’s like you gave her a puppy.” We laughed and greeted Carter and Ned at the door. 

Day 7 of no Spiderman

“Hey Peter?” He laughed up and nodded. “When are you gonna ask Liz to homecoming?” He fell off the couch and looked at me surprised. “What makes you think I like Liz?” I gave him the I’m-not-an-idiot look and he sighed in defeat. “I don’t think I am.” I looked at him shocked from my place on his couch. “Dude! This is your chance! You can ask Liz to the dance! It’s not like you have anything better to do. I’m 75% sure she’ll say yes.” He ran his hand through his hair and groaned. “I’ll think about it, ok?” I smiled and repeatedly punched the air causing Peter to laugh. “Go home so we can go to school, Parker.” I playfully rolled my eyes and left to get my backpack. 

Later that day, I got a text from Peter telling me to come to his apartment after school. I knocked on the door and Peter quickly opened it. He dragged me into the living room and made me sit on the couch next to his aunt. “Hi, May.” She smiled and Peter ran his hand through his hair before turning to us. “Ok, I asked Liz to the dance and I don’t know what I’m doing.” Aunt May and I high-fived and I pointed at Peter. “I told you she would, didn’t I?” He nodded and We got to work getting Peter ready.

Day 8 of no Spiderman

Peter and I were at the store looking for a tux for homecoming when I got a call from Carter. “Parker, you’ll never believe what just happened!” I brought my phone away from my ear from how loud she was and Peter looked up confused. “What happened, Carter?” Peter held up a dark blue tux and I shook my head unsatisfied. “Ned asked me to go to homecoming with him.” Peter held up a gray one and I pointed towards the dressing room. “That’s great, Carter. Good for you.” I walked towards the dressing room. “I’ll tell you more when you get home. Have fun shopping.” I nodded. “See you later.” She ended the call and Peter came out of the dressing room. “I like this one. Like a lot.” I nodded and fixed the collar on the jacket. “Me too. Gray is like black, it goes with everything.” He looked at me confused but nodded anyways. “Alright, now go change.” He saluted and walked back into the dressing room. He came back and we headed towards the register. “Oh, Ned asked Carter to go to homecoming with him.” He stopped walking and gave me a look that I interpreted as him being impressed. “Wow, he really did do it.” I nodded and we continued towards the register. “Are you going to go?” I shrugged. “I’ve thought about going to the dance but those kinds of events aren’t my thing.”

“Well you should. Just in case it doesn’t go well with Liz.” I laughed quietly. “So I’m a backup plan?” His eyes went wide and he shook his head. “No, no, no. That’s not why. It’s just so that if it goes bad with Liz, I can hangout with you. Ned and Carter all might and I don’t want to be third wheeling.” We both laughed and he paid for the tux. “Fine, I’ll go. Only to be your backup plan. That’s it.” He playfully rolled his eyes and we left the store to get him ready.


	16. Chapter 16

I walked out of my room to see Carter in her lavender lace and satin dress. “Oooo, look at you!” She laughed and did a twirl. “I mean, look at you. You look way better.” I looked down to see my black and red ombre dress and did a little curtsy. “Whatever, come on. I wanna go.” She laughed and we went outside to wait for Ned. When he finally showed up, we made our way to the school. We entered the building and were greeted by Michelle flipping us off. “Thanks for the very nice welcoming, Michelle.” She gave me a sarcastic smile and walked away. A few minutes after we arrived, Liz walked in with a group of friends but with no sign of Peter. “Shit.” I looked around to see if he already showed up but he wasn’t in the gym. “This was your chance, Peter. Don’t tell you messed this up. Not now.” I was about to take out my phone to text him when Carter hit my arm. “Hey, you and his aunt did a good job making sure Peter looked good for this.”

I looked up and saw Peter looking at us with concern in his eyes. He walked over Liz and said something, causing her to look confused. He ran out of the gym and I groaned. “Damnit, Peter.” I ran after him and he turned the corner. I turned the corner and saw him lift up a group of lockers to grab what looked like an old Spiderman suit. “Peter, what’s going on?” He mumbled something and started to take off his jacket. “Peter, what are you saying?” He threw his jacket on the ground and started to unbutton his shirt, causing me to turn around. “Liz’s dad is the Vulture. He’s our guy. He-he knows I’m Spiderman but I don’t know if he knows who you are because he didn’t say anything.” He turned me around and he was in the suit. “So what’s the plan? What are we gonna do?” He shook his head. “WE aren’t going to do anything. I’m going to go after him. You’re going to stay here and enjoy homecoming.” I crossed my arms. “Yeah, there’s no way I’m going to stay here while you go after him alone.”

“Yes, you are staying here. I can’t let you get hurt. I-” I cut him off. “And I’m not going to let you go be an idiot. We made a deal: we stop this guy together. And how do you plan to stop him? Hmm? Last time you faced him alone, it didn’t go well.” Peter let out an exasperated sigh and grabbed my shoulders. “I’ll figure something out. But you have to trust me! I know you have faith in me. You have more faith in me than anyone. You believe in me more than Mr. Stark has. You made me realize I can still be Spiderman without my suit. You made me realize Peter Parker is the real hero and I don’t need the suit to save anyone. Please Parker, let me be the hero. Let Peter Parker be the hero.” I looked down and slowly nodded. “Thank you, Parker. Thank you.” I handed him my phone and he ran down the hallway. He stopped running and walked back to me. “If I don’t come back, I want you to tell Aunt May everything. Tell her about Spiderman and the internship. Just tell her everything.” My eyes went wide and I shook my head. “Don’t talk like that, Peter. Don’t say-” He cut me off. “Please just do that for me, Parker. Please.” I groaned and looked down. “Fine! I’ll tell her! But you’ll come back and tell her yourself.” He nodded and something sticky hit my hand. “Peter!” 

“I have to make sure you stay. Have fun at homecoming!” I rolled my eyes and Peter ran around the corner. “Yeah, I’ll have fun. I’ll have fun helping you catch this guy.” I burned the webs and ran into the gym to find Carter and Ned. “Parker!” I turned around and saw Carter walking over to me. “Where’s Ned?” She looked at me confused. “Carter, where’s Ned?” Before he could answer, Ned ran over to us. “Good, you guys come with me.” I ran out of the gym and into the library with Ned and Carter following. “Parker, what’s going on? What are you doing?” Ned sat down at one of the computers and Peter called him. “Ned, track my phone.” Ned told Peter the directions to the place and I quickly looked at the phone's location. I wasn’t going to stand by and let Peter get killed by Liz’s dad. His little speech didn’t change my mind. When no one was looking, I ran out of the library and went to my locker. I pulled out the extra suit I put in there after the Delmar’s explosion and put it on. I closed my locker and ran out of the school. I pressed behind my ear and flew off to help Peter. Hopefully, this will go kind of easy.


	17. Chapter 17

I landed outside of an industrial building and went inside. I walked down the hallway trying to find Peter and saw someone standing at the end of the hallway. “Peter?” I slowly walked closer to the person but they didn’t move. The light turned on in the hallway and temporarily blinded me. “Ow!” Before I could fully recover, something knocked me down from behind. I hit my head on the floor and I started to see black dots everywhere. I rolled over onto my back and a figure appeared above me. The person crouched down and I realized who it was, the vulture guy. I went to punch him but he grabbed my hand and pushed my head against the floor. The black dots in my vision got bigger and everything went black.

When I woke up, I found myself leaning against a metal table. My hands were handcuffed with a very advanced pair of handcuffs. At the center of the cuffs was a rope tied to it and the other end was tied to one of the table legs. “Ah, good. You’re awake.” I turned to see the vulture guy enter the room and he pointed to the handcuffs. “You like them? They’re power damping handcuffs. Can’t have you burning me alive, now can we?” I didn’t believe him so I tried to burn the cuffs with my mind but got a shooting pain in my head. I screamed in pain and he turned around to look at me. “You didn’t believe me, huh? Had to put yourself through pain. I don’t understand your generation.” I looked at him confused. “How do you know-” His laugh cut me off. “Oh, I know who you are, Flames. Or should I say, Parker Nite.” I clenched my jaw. “Don’t worry, I know your buddy Peter is coming. So as soon as he comes, you can go home.”

“We’re going to stop you. You won’t get away with selling those weapons.” He laughed. “I’d like to see you try. But I’ll still be selling the weapons and stealing tech from Stark and his goofy team.” He walked out of the room and left me alone. He came back after a while and started tinkering with the stuff on the table next to me. It was mainly silent from us but I managed to make conversation after I realized I couldn’t deal with how quiet it was in the room. From the conversation I found out that he was doing this to provide a good life for his family. Both of us were just doing our own thing when someone came into the room. “Hey! Surprised?” I looked up to see Peter walking towards us. “Oh, hey Pete. I didn’t hear you come in. Actually, I don’t think either of us heard you.” Liz’s dad turned towards me and I shook my head. “Hi, Peter.” Peter looked over to me and concern washed over his face. “Parker… It’s over. I got you. Let her go.” Adrian, which I learned was his real name, started to put on his jacket. “You know, I gotta tell you Pete, I really admire your grit. I see why Liz likes you. I do. When you first came to the house, I wasn’t sure. I thought, really? But I get it now.” Peter shook his head. “How could you do this to her?”

“To her? No, I’m doing this for her. I‘m not doing anything to her Pete. It’s for her.” Peter shot webs at his hands and I flinched. “Peter, you’re young. You don’t understand how the world works.” I moved away from the webs on Liz’s dads hands because I didn’t like the smell of them. “But I understand that selling weapons to criminals is wrong.” I groaned and Liz’s dad looked at me irritated. “Don’t you have somewhere else you can complain at?” I shrugged. “Not until four tomorrow.” He turned back to Peter and ignored me. “How do you think your buddy Stark paid for that tower? Or any of his little toys? Those people Pete, those people up there, the rich and the powerful, get whatever they want. But guys like us, like me, they don’t care about us. We build their roads, fight their wars and everything. They don’t care about us. We have to pick up after them, eat their table scraps. That’s how it is. I know you know what I’m talking about. And she does too.” He pointed towards me and I shrugged. 

“Why are you telling me this?” Adrian smirked. “Because I want you to understand and I needed a little more time for her to warm up some more.” He pulled out a knife and the vulture wings busted through the wall. “Peter!” Adrian cut the webs and untied the rope on the handcuffs. “I’m sorry, Peter.” He grabbed my arm. “What are you talking about? It hasn’t even touched me yet.” Liz’s dad pulled me closer to him. “True. Then again, wasn’t really trying to.” The vulture wings crashed through the remaining beams. “Peter, run!” But it was too late. The building came crashing down on him. “Peter!” I tried to get out of his grasp but he just pulled me out of the building. His wings attached to him and we flew up into the sky. “You said you would let me go when Peter showed up. Why didn’t you let me go?” He didn’t respond but let go of me and I started to plummet towards the ground before he grabbed me. “Yeah, nevermind. I get it now.” He flew after a plane that left the Avengers tower and attached to the underside of the plane. 

He did this weird vacuum seal around us with the wings and used something to open a door thingy into the plane. He pulled us both into the plane and he walked into the cockpit. The plane moved slightly and he walked out of the small room. “What did you do? What are you doing?” He walked past me and started looking through the boxes of tech. “If you’re going to kill me, can you just do it-” I got cut off by sirens blaring signaling something was loose on the plane. Liz’s dad looked at a screen and I looked over his shoulder to see Peter hanging onto the plane. “Oh my god, he’s not dead. Wait, how is he not dead?” He got back in the wings and started attacking Peter. While they were fighting, the plane lost an engine and more sirens went off. “My god, why are those so loud?” The plane started falling and I grabbed one of the boxes. “God, please save me!” A hole was made on the top of the plane and I screamed. The vulture guy grabbed one of the boxes and left me in the plane. “Well that’s rude.” As the plane was falling, I fell out of the hole on the top not so gracefully because I lost my grip on the box. I tried to use my powers but it was no use. It was extremely painful. Fire from the destroyed engine moved towards me and I remembered what Happy told me after the Delmar’s explosion. 

“When you got hit, your body took in the flames. Your body’s temperature increased so much that the doctors need to wear fireproof clothes so they wouldn’t get hurt. Your body couldn’t handle the temperature and the fire intake so you started to shoot fire out into the room.”

I let the fire hit my body and absorbed it so I could get out of the handcuffs. I burned the cuffs and flew in the direction of the plane when it crashed. I released some of the fire that I absorbed into the air and calmed it down so nothing caught on fire. I landed next to the plane wreck and started to search for Peter. “Peter? Peter!” The vulture guy grabbed Peter and I started to shoot fire at the talons. Adrian brushed me off and flew up into the air with Peter. I kept shooting fire at him and Peter got out of his grasp. He picked Peter up and dropped him repeatedly until he flew towards one of the boxes. He picked it up and tried to fly away. “Adrian, stop! Your wings!” The wings on his suit started sparking and Peter shot a web at it to try to stop him. I grabbed the web and we both tried to pull him back to the ground. “It’s time to go home, kids.”

“I’m trying to save you!” He cut the web and we fell on the sand. Adrian flew away and Peter tried to shoot a web but he was all out. The wings exploded and Peter pulled me down to cover me. The two of us got up and ran to move the wings. Peter burned his hand trying to lift it and I pushed the wing off because it won’t burn me. Peter pulled him out and fell down next to where he dropped Liz’s dad. I calmed down the fire and Peter tied him up. I heard people coming and I turned to get Peter so we could leave, but he was gone. I flew away and as I was flying, I noticed Peter sitting on the edge of a roller coaster. I flew over and sat down next to him. “Hey, Pete.” He turned to look at me and I made my mask disappear. “All of that blood looks good on you. It really brings out your eyes.” He started laughing and I playfully rolled my eyes. “I could say the same, Peter but you have more blood on you than me.” We both laughed and I gently patted his knee. “Let’s go back to my apartment so I can patch you up.” He shook his head and winced. “Peter, it’s either that or when May sees all of this, you’ll have to deal with her freaking out.” He sighed.

I teleported us to my room and checked if Carter was awake, thankfully she wasn’t. We went into my bathroom and I started wiping away the blood and dirt on his face. “Thank you for this, Parker. All of this. I never realized how lonely this job was until you came around. So, thank you.” I removed the washcloth from his face and smiled. “It’s no problem, Peter. I’m glad that I did move out here. I made some really great friends. I guess we just needed someone who understands and we both got that.” He nodded and I patched him up the best I could so he could go home. I got cleaned up and I laid down on my bed. Peter and I have gone through so much at such a young age without having someone who knows what it’s like. Then we got each other and everything that was hard became easier because we could rely on the other. This is the exact opposite of what I thought would happen this year. And it’s not even over yet.


	18. Chapter 18

A few days later

I decided to walk alone to school today because I’m still a little shaken about putting Liz’s dad in jail. I walked to my locker and leaned my head against it. I took a deep breath and opened it so I could get my stuff. I started to walk down the hallway to get to class and saw Peter talking to Liz. Liz walked away and walked past me. I gave her a sympathetic smile and she nodded. I walked over to Peter and we headed towards our classes. At the end of the day, there was a decathlon meeting in the library to figure out who’s going to replace Liz on the team. I headed to the library and was about to walk in when my phone went off.

Happy: Come to the football field parking lot

I looked at the message confused but did what he asked. I arrived in the parking lot and saw Happy leaning against his car. “Hey, kid.” I waved and Happy walked over to me. “Nice job catching that guy. Tony’s proud-” I cut him off. “Happy, why am I here?” He sighed and put his hands in his pockets. “I’m here to take you somewhere. But, I need to get someone first.” I nodded and he went into the school. I leaned against the side of the car and waited for him to come back. He came back to the parking lot a few minutes later with Peter following him. Peter and I greeted each other and we all got in the car to go where Happy needed to take us. The car ride was quiet until we arrived at the Avengers compound. “Take a look. It’s impressive, huh? They just finished remodeling the thing.” We nodded and looked at the building in awe. Happy parked the car in front of the building and we walked inside to be greeted by Tony. “How was the ride up?” I shrugged. “Give a minute with the kids.” Happy looked at him confused. “Seriously?” Tony nodded. “I gotta talk to the kids.” 

Peter and I looked at each other confused with the two in front of us and Peter just shrugged. “I’ll be close behind.” Tony shrugged. “How about a loose follow? Alright? Boundaries are good.” Tony stood in between Peter and I and placed a hand on our shoulders. We started to walk down the hall towards a wall and a door. “I’m sorry I took your suit and I’m sorry I yelled at you over the phone. I mean, you guys had it coming. Actually, it turns out it was the perfect tough love movement that you guys needed, right? To urge you on, right? Wouldn’t you think? Let’s just say it was.” Tony sighed. “Mr. Stark, I-” He interrupted Peter. “You screwed the pooch hard, big time. But, then you guys did the right thing. Took the dog to the free clinic, you raised the hybrid puppies. Not my best analogy. I was right about you. Both of you. I think with a little more mentoring, you two can be a real asset to the team.” I looked at him confused. “To the team?” Tony nodded.

“Yes. There’s about 50 reporters behind this door, real ones, not bloggers. When you’re ready, why don’t you try these on.” Tony pressed something on his watch and two compartments appeared in the wall. One was a metal Spiderman suit with legs that come out from the back, like a spider themed Iron Man suit. The other was my suit but it was designed better. It looked like it was made from the same stuff as the first suit Peter got from Tony. “And I’ll introduce the two newest members of the Avengers: Spiderman and Flames.” I was speechless. I never thought I’d ever have this kind of opportunity like ever. “So after the press conference, Happy will show you to your rooms. Where are they, next to Vision? You’ll fit right in.” Peter and I looked at each other and I made up my mind. “Thank you, Mr. Stark, but I’m good.” Tony looked at him confused. “You’re good? How are you good?” Peter shrugged. “I’d rather stay on the ground for a little while. Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman. Gotta look out for the little guy, you know?” I placed my hand on Peter’s shoulder. “Yeah. There’s no Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman without Spiderman. And there is no way I can do everything on my own.” 

“You two turning me down? Better think about this. Look at that. Look at me. Last chance, yes or no.” We looked at each other and shook her head. “No.” Tony sighed. “Ok. It’s kind of a spring steamy working class hero vibe that I dig. Uh, Happy will take you guys home.” Happy nodded. “Yeah. Mind waiting in the car? I need a minute.” We nodded. “Thank you Mr. Stark.” Tony shook Peter’s hand. “Thank you, Mr. Parker.” Peter walked away and Tony chuckled. “I’m surprised you said no. This would’ve been big for you.” I shrugged. “Being an Avenger would be great but it’s not my thing. Helping the little guys seems to be my thing.” He nodded. “Bye Tony.” He smiled. “Bye Ashes.” I playfully rolled my eyes and ran to catch up with Peter. He smiled when he saw me and we walked to the car. “I’m actually surprised you said no to being an Avenger, Parker. That seemed like something you would like to do.” I shrugged. “Can’t let you have all the fun in Queens, now can we?” He laughed and we got in the car.

Happy dropped me off at my apartment building and I went inside. “Carter, you home?” There was no response and I went into my room to lay down. Something on my bed flashed in the light and I found a bracelet placed there. I put it on and it started to unfold onto my body. “Woah!” A display screen appeared and someone started talking. “Hello Mrs. Nite, I am your personal A.I created by Tony Stark.” I shook my head and chuckled. Tony gave me the suit anyways. I heard a bang outside on my fire escape and went out. I closed the window and saw Peter standing there in his Spiderman suit. “So, he gave you the suit back, huh?” He laughed and nodded. “He gave you the other suit?” I nodded and my mask disappeared. I sat down and Peter sat down next to me after me took off his mask. “So Peter, what do we do now? Act like we don’t know each other or-” He cut me off. “How about we become a team? Flames and Spiderman?” I nodded. “I like that.” 

He quickly got up and looked out at the city. “There's a robbery downtown.” He turned around to look at me. “You ready to go, Flames?” I got up and my mask came back. “Ready as I’ll ever be, Spiderman.” Peter put his mask back on and we jumped off my fire escape, ready to start another Chapter in our superhero lives.


	19. Chapter 19

The sound of my annoying ringtone woke me up in the middle of the night and I heard the neighbor next door groan in, which I’m pretty sure was, annoyance. I’m not completely sure through, the dudes kinda weird. I rubbed my eyes and grabbed my phone to see who it was. I pressed accept but before I could say anything, a voice spoke first. “Parker, are you home?” I turned to look at my clock. “Peter, it’s three in the morning. This better be important.” I pushed my hair out of my face and heard him sigh. “Parker. Are you home?” I heard him wince. “Yes, I’m home. Are you ok-” He hung up and I went to turn on the light. My bedroom window opened and Peter fell onto my floor. “Are you ok- Oh my god, Peter what’s on you?” I ran over to him and rolled him over, causing him to groan in pain. He was covered in blood and what looked like purple paint. “Peter, can you move without being in extreme pain?” He groaned. “I’m taking that as a no.”

I teleported him to my bathroom and grabbed a wet washcloth. I pressed the spider on his suit and it loosened around him. I pulled down the top of the suit and as gentle as I could, I started to wipe away the blood and purple stuff. He grabbed onto my arm and squeezed in pain. Everytime I would clean a cut, he’d squeeze my arm more causing me to apologize. Once I was done, his super healing kicked in and he sat up. I grabbed the backpack he left with extra clothes and brought it into the bathroom. He took the bag and I went back into my room. I closed my window so another bird doesn’t fly in, a long story for another time, and sat down on my bed. Peter walked into my room a little while after and laid down next to me. “Peter?” He nodded. “What happened?” He sighed. “I went to stop some guys and one guy cut me with his knife and the other guy threw paint at me. I still don’t know where he got the paint.” I scolded him. “Peter! I thought we agreed that we’d tell each other if there was something. You’re not on your own anymore, you have me.” He sighed. “Yeah, I know.” We eventually fell asleep because when I woke up, it was 8:30 and there was no sign of Peter. I grabbed my phone to check it and saw a text from Peter.

Peter: Thanks for helping me out :)

I smiled and put my phone back. I walked into the living room and saw Carter on the couch. “Morning, Parker.” I waved and went into the kitchen. “Hey, Parker?” I opened the fridge and grabbed the milk. “Yeah?” I grabbed the cereal and poured it into a bowl. “Why are your hands purple?” I froze. “That’s a very good question. It also has a very strange answer.” She Pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh god, it’s one of those?” I smiled sheepishly and finished making my cereal. “Yeah, it’s one of those. I would recommend sitting down.”


	20. Chapter 20

Peter’s Pov

I groaned as I looked at my calculus homework. I grabbed the paper and went to Parker’s apartment, knowing she’d know how to do it. I told May I was leaving and went to her building. I knocked on the door and an unfamiliar man opened the door. “Can I help you?” I looked at him confused. “I’m looking for Parker-” I got cut off. “Let him in, Uncle Trevor.” Parker stood behind him. “He’s a friend of mine. It’s ok.” Her uncle moved out of the way and let me in. “So Peter, what do you need?” I held up the paper and she sighed. “The calculus question.” We went into the kitchen and a lady was standing there. “Oh, hello.” She set down a towel on the counter. “Aunt Shelby, this is Peter.” She waved and started to walk away. “I’ll leave you to do whatever.” We sat down at the kitchen island and she helped me with the question. “So, do your aunt and uncle live here now?” She shook her head. “No, they’re just visiting. If they did move here, I’ll never be able to help you with patrol and stuff. They never were happy I did when I lived with them.” I nodded. “Your uncle scares me.” She laughed.

“Don’t worry, he won’t hurt you. Unless you’re Hydra, then he might.” I looked at her confused. “They were S.H.I.E.L.D agents until Carter was born. Then, they retired and moved to New York.” I nodded. “Oh, hey Peter.” I turned around and saw Carter walk into the kitchen. “I heard my name, so what’s up?” I laughed and Parker shrugged. “Nothing much.” Carter nodded and sat down next to her. “Does mom and dad know he’s here?” Before Parker could answer, someone spoke. “We heard our names, so what’s up?” Parker groaned and put her head on the island, causing Carter and I to laugh. “I can’t say anything with you people around.” Parker’s aunt and uncle laughed. “Come on Parker, you do it all the time.” I laughed and Carter’s parents started talking to us. I turned to look at Parker and she was still glaring at me. “Why are you glaring at me?” She leaned towards me and I copied her action. “I’m hoping you’ll spontaneously combust.” I started laughing and she started to laugh too. “What’s wrong with you two?” 

“She wants me to spontaneously combust, which is the weakest death threat ever.” Carter started laughing and her parents looked at us funny. Carter and Parker started talking to Parker’s uncle and her aunt asked me to follow her. “I get why she chose you.” I shook my head. “Oh, no, no. We aren’t dating. She’s just my friend, that’s all.” Her aunt chuckled. “I didn’t mean that. I get why she trusts you. You seem like a good kid. I know she’s not my daughter, but I do want her to be happy. I haven’t seen a smile like that from her since her parents died. You’ve brought back the girl that disappeared in the hospital so many years ago. I just want to thank you for that.” I nodded. “It’s no problem. She’s one of my best friends, I’ll always take care of her.” Her aunt and I walked back into the kitchen and I realized I had to get home. “Hey, I gotta go before May kills me. It was nice meeting you Mr. and Mrs. Day.” They said goodbye and I went home, thinking about what Parker’s aunt said to me.

I was doing my nightly patrol when I saw a group of guys enter an abandoned building. “Karen, call Parker.” She called her and it just rang. “Come on, Parker, pick up.” It kept ringing and she never answered. “Peter, it seems Miss. Nite’s suit tracker is in the building.” My eyes went wide. “What? Are you sure?” Karen ran another scan. “Yes, Miss. Nite is in the building's basement.” I quickly swung into the building and saw Parker laying on the floor of the basement. I ran over to her and knelt down. I shook her gently and she woke up. “Peter? What are you doing here? Wait, where am I?” I helped her up and she looked around. “I was looking for you. I found you here in this basement. Do you know how you got here?” She held her head. “These guys knocked me out when I was doing my part of patrol.” She turned to get a better look at the place and winced. “Come on, let’s get you home.” She nodded and we walked towards the exit. “Where do you think you’re going with her?” We turned around and saw the guys from earlier. “She belongs to us.” Parker grabbed onto my arm and moved behind me. “She doesn’t belong to anyone.”

“But she does. She put our friend in jail. So we’re going to treat her like they’re treating him, like shit.” Her grip on my arm tightened. “You’re not going to do anything to her.” The man snarled. “Hand over the girl.” His men stepped towards us. “Not going to happen.” I shot a web at the desk behind them and pulled it forward, causing the men to fall and hit their heads on the concrete. I turned around and saw a foreign emotion on Parker’s face. She was scared. I followed her eyes and saw she was watching the men on the floor. “Karen, call the police and give them this location.” Karen called them and I stood in front of Parker to force her to look at me. “Come on, let’s get you home.” She nodded slowly and teleported us to her room. I took off my mask and Parker’s suit went into it’s bracelet form. She started to cry and I pulled her into a hug. “It’s ok Park, I got you. I got you. You’re safe. I won’t let them get you. I’ll never let that happen.” Her grip on me tightened and she buried her face into my shoulder. “They could have killed us, Peter. They could have killed you. I can’t lose you, Peter. I-I just can’t. I can’t do that.” I sighed. “And you won’t. I’ll always be there, Parker. Always.”


	21. Chapter 21

I walked into my apartment after school expecting to be alone, but the sound of someone falling proved me wrong. I quietly placed my bag on the ground and grabbed one of the kitchen knives. I slowly walked towards the sound and ended up outside my room. I slowly pushed the door open and saw Peter looking out my window. I set down the knife and pushed the door open all the way. I looked at his suit and my eyes went wide. “Is that blood?” He flinched. “No?” I rolled my eyes. “That’s not a question you’re supposed to answer with another question.” He closed the window and sat on my bed facing away from me. “You know if you want to come to my apartment when you get hurt while being on your own, I can get you a key.” No response. “Peter, are you ok?” He nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just waiting for the healing to kick in, that’s all.” I nodded and went to return the knife. 

When I came back into the room, he was nowhere to be seen. I opened my window and looked out only to see his backpack on the fire escape. “Where the hell did he go?” The water turned on in the bathroom and I sighed. I walked towards the bathroom and saw Peter’s reflection in the mirror. “Who gave you that black eye?” He froze. “What black eye?” I turned him around to face me. “That one.” He looked down at the tile floor of the bathroom. “Peter, who gave you that?” He continued to look at the tile. “Peter…” He finally looked up from the floor. “Flash gave me the black eye and the blood was from hitting too many buildings on the way here. I was trying to hide my eye from May.” I sighed. “Why were you trying to hide this from me? I wouldn’t have gotten mad. I’d just kill Flash, that’s all.” He quietly laughed. “That’s exactly why I wasn’t going to tell you. I was just trying to hide from everyone until my eye and cuts healed. You and Carter don’t usually come home right away so I thought I’d have time.”

“You’ve come here to hide before?” He looked down embarrassed. “Yeah.” I laughed quietly. “I seriously need to get you a key, man. I can’t let you keep breaking in all the time.” He laughed. “It’s not breaking in! It’s just a quick break. And hey, you said it was ok before!” I laughed. “That’s true. Come on, let’s get that suit in the wash.” He grabbed his emergency bag and changed in the bathroom. He gave me the suit and I placed it in the washing machine to be cleaned. We walked into the kitchen and Peter grabbed a cup for a drink. “Ok, so what do you-” I got cut off by the doorbell ringing. “Hold on.” I opened the door and saw a bouquet of flowers on the doormat. I picked them up confused and set them on the kitchen counter. Peter turned around and his eyes went wide. “Woah, who gave you those?” I shrugged and picked up the card. “You. Me. The Bonnie, 7pm. Dinner on me. Flash.” I rolled my eyes. “That’s some way to ask someone out.” Peter nodded. “That’s probably one of the nicer ways he’s asked someone out.” 

“Yeah, I’m not going. He must not understand that I don’t like him.” Peter nodded and sat down at the island. “Alright.” I sat down next to him and stared at the flowers. “But he bought me flowers?” Peter laughed. “Excuse me Queen of Darkness, some people might consider that sweet.” I hit his arm. “Haha, very funny.” He laughed and pointed at the flowers. “Are you gonna put them in water or let them die slowly?” I shot up from my seat. “We shall not let them suffer. It’s not their fault Flash chose them.” I filled a tall cup with water after I realized we didn’t own a vase and placed them in the water. “God, he’s gonna be so pissed when you don’t show up.” I turned around and shrugged. “Oh well.”


	22. Chapter 22

Peter’s Pov

“Peter, be careful.” I turned towards Parker. “I’m going to be fine. Calm down, it’s not that big of a jump.” She rolled her eyes and looked down the side of the building. “If you die, May’s going to kill you.” I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I know, but I won’t so I’m fine.” She sighed. “Now stand back and watch this!” She stood back and I pulled my mask on. I started running and jumped off the building. I went to shoot a web but my web shooter got jammed. I tried my other one but it was jammed too. I closed my eyes expecting to hit the ground, instead I felt my feet land on the ground. I opened my eyes and looked around to see the top of the building. “Peter, you ready?” I turned around and saw Parker standing at the edge of the building. “Parker, what are you do-” She jumped off and I ran to the side of the building only to see her still falling. I jumped down after her and shot a web at her but it missed. I shot many more at her but they all missed. She hit the ground before I could shoot another web and I landed next to her. I knelt next to her and shook her slightly. “Parker? Parker, you gotta wake up. Come on, Parker!” Nothing. There was no movement. “Karen, call Happy.”

“What do you want, Peter?” Parker’s mask disappeared. “Parker fell and she’s not waking up.” Karen ran a scan and told me that there was a pulse. “She’s alive but she’s not waking up.” I heard Happy take a deep breath. “I’m on my way. Keep her alive.” He hung up and Parker’s suit went back into it’s bracelet form. I went to touch her but pulled my hand back when it almost got burned. Happy came in a Stark Industries jet after a little while and a bunch of doctors came out with a stretcher. They took her onto the jet and I went to go in with her but got cut off by Happy. “Stay here, kid. We’re going to take care of her.” I pulled my mask off. “No, I’m going to go with her. I need to know she’ll be ok.” Happy sighed and let me onto the jet. As soon as we landed upstate, the doctors took Parker away. I went to follow her but Happy pulled me another way. When we stopped walking, there was a window that looked into a room. I saw Parker get placed on a hospital table and the doctors surrounded her, trying to wake up. 

After many hours of waiting outside the room and there being no progress, I started to give up. I sat down in a chair and placed my head in my hands. “It’s going to be ok, Peter. She’ll be ok, she always is.” I nodded and the door opened revealing one of the doctors. “We have some news.” I sat up straighter in the chair. “What is it?” The doctor looked down. “Parker, uh, flatlined. We did everything we could to bring her back but nothing really worked. I’m sorry.” I leaned back in the chair. Parker’s dead? No, she couldn’t be. I got up and walked into the room she was in. I heard Happy call my name but I didn’t turn around, I needed to see her. I slowly walked over to her body and I sat down in the chair next to the bed. “No. no, no, no, Parker. This can’t be happening!” I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Come on, Parker. Stop this joke. It’s not funny.” Nothing. There was no movement. She was really gone. I looked down and I felt a tear roll down my cheek. “Ouch.” I looked up and saw Parker rub her eyes. “Oh my god, you’re still alive!” She smiled. “Don’t sound so disappointed, I might think you don’t like me.” I was speechless. “What-huh-how?” She sat up and looked at me confused. 

“What do you mean, how?” I let go of her hand. “You died. The doctors tried to save you but nothing worked.” She looked down at her hands that were in her lap. “I died?” I nodded. “Happy, he didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t want to believe it.” I looked down. “Well, let’s go say hello to everyone.” She got out of the bed and patted my shoulder. “Seems like I gotta tell people I’m alive.” I opened the door and was greeted by Happy. “Peter?” I looked down and Parker stepped out from behind me. “Surprise! I’m back from the dead! Isn’t that exciting?” Happy ran over and pulled Parker into a hug. “I thought you’d be gone forever.” He pulled away. “How could you do that to us?” She shrugged. “Dude, I didn't even know I was dead.” Happy rolled his eyes and pulled both of us into a hug. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with you two.” We laughed and Happy let us go. I went to hug Parker when I started to shake. I fell to the ground and heard someone yell my name in the distance. “Peter! Come on, Peter! Wake up!” Everything went black and when I opened my eyes, I saw Parker above me shaking my body. “Parker, stop shaking me.” She sighed and let me go. I sat up and waited for Parker to say something but she never did. Instead, she pulled me into a hug.

“Parker, what happened?” She held me tighter and pressed her face into my shoulder. “Parker…” She let me go and wiped away some tears. “Your web shooters got jammed and you fell. You weren’t moving or anything. I thought you were dead!” I pulled her into another hug when I saw more tears on her cheeks. “Hey, hey. I’m not dead. But I did have a dream where you died from falling from the building.” She pulled away and looked at me confused. “I think we’ve had enough scares for the day.” She laughed and teleported us to her apartment. Her suit went into it’s bracelet form and we sat down on her bed. “We’ve come a long way, you know. I was skeptical about you at the beginning, but you had a reason. And look at us now, we’ve become so close that we freak out when we think the other’s dead.” She laughed and I looked down at my lap. “I’ll never really mean anything to you.” She rested her head on my shoulder and squeezed one of my hands that was in my lap. “Don’t you kid yourself, Peter. You always have and always will.” I squeezed her hand and she giggled quietly. I looked down at her and smiled. She’s here, right next to me, and that’s all that matters.


	23. Chapter 23

Crash! "Dude! Stop it! There's not going to be anything left." I turned around and scolded Peter. He looked down at the glass shards of the ten thousand ornament he dropped and sheepishly smiled. He swept up the glass and grabbed another ornament. "No, my mom got me that ornament. You can't put anymore up until you stop breaking them." He huffed. "It's not like I'm trying to! How about we take a break Parker?" I shook my head. "You can. I'll continue to decorate the tree." He sighed and sat down on the couch. "So what did you get May for-" I stopped when I heard a crunch. "Would you stop eating all the popcorn? It's supposed to go on the tree!" He groaned. "But I'm hungry!" I rolled my eyes. "You know where the food is. Go get it." He mumbled something under his breath and went into the kitchen. I continued to decorate the tree and the lights flickered. I walked over to the window and saw the surrounding buildings lose power one by one. "What are you-" The lights went out. "Oh, that's not good." I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, no shit Sherlock."

"Well, what are we going to do now?" Peter sat down on the couch. "I don't know. Why’d it go out? It’s not even storming that bad." He shrugged. "Well you could take a break now." I smiled and placed my hands on my hips. "And what exactly would we do? There's no power, remember." He looked down. "Well, uh, I got nothing." I laughed and patted his shoulder. "Well when you know, let me know." I went into my room and grabbed my backpack. "What are you- are you doing homework over Christmas break?" I nodded and sat down on the floor. "I am doing homework over Christmas break because I was in the med bay at the Avengers Compound for a week." He chuckled. "Hey, you're the one who took in all that fire instead of just calming it down. That’s on you." I rolled my eyes. "It was an accident. I didn't do it on purpose." He laughed and sat on the floor to help me. After a little bit, I felt myself shiver and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Peter saw it. He placed his hand on mine and quickly removed it. "You're freezing, Parker." I shrugged. "I guess taking in and releasing large amounts of heat can throw off my body temperature." I went back to my homework but felt a tug on my sleeve.

I looked up to see Peter leaning on the edge of the couch with his arms open. "Peter." He shook his head. "No. Don't try to protest, Parker. Either you come over here or I’ll bring you over here." He shot a web at my hand and tugged slightly. I looked down and laughed quietly. "Parker." I looked up. "You're freezing. Come here." I placed my notebook down and sat down next to him. He placed his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him. "Better?" I shrugged. "A little bit." He chuckled. "You know I could just get a blanket right?" He rolled his eyes. "Stop trying to escape." I laughed and leaned against his chest. We apparently fell asleep because when I woke up, the power was back on and there was a blanket placed on us. The blanket I got Carter a few Christmas' ago. "Crap. crap, crap, crap." I removed Peter’s arm from my waist and went to find her. I went into her room and saw her on her phone. I cleared my throat and she looked up at me smirking. "Why, good morning dear old cousin of mine. How was your slumber?" I rolled my eyes. "Don't try to sweet talk me, Carter. I know you did something. So start talking."

"I didn't do anything, Parker. I know how you feel about this stuff. I know how you feel about him. I didn't do anything and I won't do anything. You know that. But I do have a question.” I nodded. “Why were you guys like that?” I sighed. "I got cold and he made me get all cozy with him." She looked at me confused. “How did he make you do that?” I put my head in my hands. “Web shooters.” Carter started laughing and I glared at her. "Oh my god, that's great." I hit her arm. "Will you calm down? You know I didn’t really have a choice. Either way it was going to happen." She calmed down and nodded. "I know, I know. I just find it funny." I rolled my eyes. “I bet you did.” She got up from her bed and walked towards the door. “Come on, Let’s get Peter up before May kills him.”


	24. Chapter 24

"Are you sure we need this much glitter?" Carter whipped her head around and looked at Peter surprised. "It's New Year's Eve, we need MORE glitter." I laughed and Peter looked at Ned confused. "Come on Peter, embrace the New Year spirit." Ned started laughing and Peter looked at me confused. "I'm so confused. Like, are you two alright?" I grabbed some more tinsel and shrugged. "I think we're good. I mean we've been through some stuff but we're somewhat ok." I slowly flew to the top of the wall and placed the tinsel on the hooks. "Are you sure you should be doing that Parker? You know that a ladder will do the same thing right?" Carter handed me more tinsel. "Yeah but this is like the same thing and it’s less dangerous for her." I pointed at Carter. "That is true. And this is more fun." My bracelet started to go off and Carter groaned. "Everytime we try to have a good time, someone goes and ruins it." I landed and patted Carter on the shoulder. "It's not my fault crime doesn't take holidays off." I turned towards the boys. "I'll be back before dinner." 

"You stay here. I'll go take care of it." I scanned Peter’s face for any sign of him joking or anything. "You sure?" He nodded. "Yeah, and I'll be back before dinner." I laughed and Peter smiled. "Well, don’t just stand there. Get going." He ran off and I sat down next to Carter on the couch. The next couple of hours consisted of eating, talking, me third-wheeling, and some more eating. It was around 11:50 when Carter and Ned fell asleep, and there was no sign of Peter. I was about to go out to look for him when I heard someone fall into my room. I got off the couch and knocked on my door. "Peter, is that you?" I heard something, or someone, fall. "Yeah, it's me." I sighed. "Ok." The door opened and Peter stumbled towards me. "Woah. You ok, Peter?" He quickly got up and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little dizzy that's all." I sighed and wiped the blood away on his head. "Maybe you're dizzy because you have a cut on your head." He shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not." I playfully rolled my eyes and walked into the living room. "You're not my favorite person today." He laughed. "I'm not your favorite person anyday."

"Wow, they're asleep?" I laughed. "Yeah, but not for long." He looked at me confused as I ran into the kitchen. I grabbed a metal pot lid and ran into the living room. Peter looked at the lid then back at me even more confused. I counted to three and dropped the lid on the floor, making a loud bang that I knew would wake them up. Ned jumped up scared while Carter sat up and glared at me. "We got two minutes till midnight! You gotta wake up!" Carter hit my arm and grabbed the lid off the ground. She put it away and I started to laugh. Peter looked at Ned's expression and started to laugh. "Why do I feel like I'm never going to be able to sleep around Parker ever?" Carter came back in and laughed. "I've been living with her for ten years and I still have never been able to sleep." I nodded. "That is true."  
"11, 10, 9, 8..." We turned towards the tv and counted down. "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" I high-fived the boys and hugged Carter. "We made it through the year alive. Let's do it again!" We all laughed and started the year with our new family.


End file.
